Ultimate Spider-Man #2

History

After the widely criticized Ultimatum crossover event concluded with Ultimate Spider-Man #133, the series relaunched with fresh numbering as part of Marvel's rebranded 'Ultimate Comics' line in August 2009. Brian Michael Bendis, the book's writer since its 2000 debut, stayed on, but deliberately sought a new visual collaborator to signal the tonal shift; Spanish artist David Lafuente — who had previously worked with Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 — became the series' third ongoing artist after Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen. Bendis structured the opening arc ('The New World According to Peter Parker') as a time-jump roughly six months past Ultimatum, explicitly designing it as a new-reader entry point while carrying forward the trauma of the prior catastrophe. Lafuente's animated, wide-eyed aesthetic marked an intentional departure from his predecessors' more realistic styles, giving the relaunch a distinct visual identity.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of the Bombshells: Lori Baumgartner and her daughter Lana Baumgartner (Earth-1610), a mother-daughter mutant criminal duo who can fire explosive energy blasts — both debuting together in this issue.
• Written by Brian Michael Bendis; pencils, inks, and cover by David Lafuente; colors by Justin Ponsor; letters by VC's Cory Petit.
• Story title: 'The New World According to Peter Parker, Part II' — the second chapter of the opening arc of Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 2.
• The issue is set approximately six months after the events of Ultimatum; Peter Parker is now employed at a fast-food restaurant called Burger Frog, and New York City's criminal underworld has been reshuffled by Mysterio's elimination of the Kingpin.
• Lana Baumgartner's powers originate from Roxxon Corporation experiments performed on her mother Lori while Lori was pregnant; originally the duo's abilities functioned only in close proximity to each other.
• Bendis publicly acknowledged that the Baumgartner mother-daughter dynamic was deliberately modeled on the relationship between Rory and Lorelai Gilmore from the television series Gilmore Girls.
• The vast majority of the 'other characters' in this issue — including Thor (Thorlief Golmen), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark), the Hulk (Bruce Banner), Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange Jr.), the Thing (Ben Grimm), and the Invisible Girl (Susan Storm Richards) — appear only as skeletal corpses in a dream/nightmare sequence, not in the main story.
• Lana Baumgartner later transitioned from villain to hero, joining the All-New Ultimates alongside Miles Morales's Spider-Man, and subsequently survived the Secret Wars event to be transplanted into Earth-616 as a member of the Champions.

Cast · 21 characters

Full credits

Variants (2)